Of all of the grueling responsibilities associated with medical intern ships, the forty-eight hour, weekend emergency room shift was one of the worst. It was assigned to new interns after their first month, remaining their responsibility presumably until the end of time. Today was Bella Swan's first shift. She'd have to work every weekend for a month before ever getting one off.
Angela and Jude, whom bella viewed as equal parts roommates and best friends, were both fast asleep when her phone started buzzing at five-thirty in the morning. Still dreaming of martinis and rooftop bars, Bella pawed at her bedside table until her fingers slid across the touch screen.
"Hello?"
"I'm leaving my house in five, Do you want a ride or not?" Jasper asked with an annoyance that sent a dose of adrenaline straight to Bella's heart. She pulled the phone away from her ear, eyes bugging when she saw the time. Her alarm was supposed to go off nearly an hour ago.
"Fuck," she said to herself before speaking into the phone again, "Please, Jasper, will you?You're a life saver."
"Did you just wake up?"
"I set my alarm for PM instead of AM!" Bella tumbled out of bed, stumbling into the bathroom and balancing the phone between her ear and her shoulder while she pee. As a practicing doctor she should have known better than to practice such terrible hygiene, but as a practicing intern she just didn't have the time. God, were mornings terrible.
"You'd be lost without me," Jasper said with a proud chuckle.
Bella didn't bother looking in the mirror, instead grabbing a rubber band from the counter and pulling her hair up. She tripped over her shoes on her way to grab socks, nearly collapsing on the floor right then and there from the stress of being so late. She couldn't even pretend that Jasper wasn't right.
"I can't believe I was almost late to my first ER shift. Terry would have killed me."
"Our forty-eight hours hasn't even begun. He still might."
Bella groaned. "I can't believe I have towait forty-eight hours before seeing mybed again." She shot the piece of furniture one last, longing look before heading towards the kitchen. The coffee machine had thankfullywokenup on time, and Bella's mouth began to water when she smelled the fresh cup.
"Buckup, Swan. Don't be the night shift pussy."
Jasper's words were supposed to be intimidating, but Bella only giggled. "That's a dollar in the swear jar!"
"Doesn't count when I'm in the car. Besides, the baby isn't due for another month."
Bella cut Jasper off with a loud yelp as she spilled coffee down her front. "You're already in the car! I thought you said I had five minutes!"
"That was five minutes ago! I'm ten minutes from your apartment," he said, his voice a pitch higher than usual. Bella whimpered as she pinched the front of her shirt. She lifted it up enough to see that her stomach was a light shade of pink from where the coffee had burned. Even worse, these were her last clean scrubs.
She mumbled a rushed goodbye to Jasper, tossing her phone on the counter and scarfing down as many carrots as she could fit into her mouth. Her mind was flooded with everything she'd meant to accomplish before leaving for the weekend. She still had a growing set of dishes in the sink, had wanted to put in at least a half of hour of stitches practice, and was hoping to squeeze in a shower. She knew it was something she should have done the night before.
None-the-less, Jasper showed up in front of her house three minutes early, honking his horn obnoxiously until Bella finally slipped out the door.
"Do you have an extra shirt?" she asked as soon as she'd closed the door behind her. Jasper was speeding in the direction of work before she'd even thought about buckling her seat belt.
